SEATTLE, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro filed a second class action lawsuit against RC2 , the 'Thomas the Train' toy manufacturer, this time seeking redress for diagnostic testing required for the named plaintiffs' children who have been exposed to the dangerous toys.
Today's filed complaint includes two named plaintiffs who are seeking to recover the costs of blood tests necessary to detect lead poisoning in their children resulting from RC2's actions. HBSS expects this second filing to be one of many more lawsuits to come from outraged parents.
"The manufacturer isn't stepping up to the plate for these families, and more importantly, their children," said Steve Berman, lead counsel and managing partner at HBSS. "It is unfortunate that we have to push for the protection and well being of these kids -- one would think it would be common sense to ensure the safety of your customers."
The new complaint states, "early detection through medical testing of lead poisoning is made necessary and advisable by the Defendants' manufacturing, marketing, and sale of the Thomas Toys painted with lead pigment."
All of the plaintiffs have children under the age of five who sleep, eat and carry their Thomas toys everywhere.
The complaint states that children under six years of age will absorb about 50 percent of the lead they ingest and exposure can lead to a wide range of health effects, including IQ deficits, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, stunted or slowed growth and impaired hearing.
On June 14, 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered a voluntary recall of the toys. Despite the recall, the company is not offering a reimbursement program for the dangerous toys, but will exchange the dangerous one for a new, ostensibly safer toy.
According to the complaint the plaintiffs are not interested in replacement toys, but want to be refunded for the hazardous toys the company allowed to come into customers' homes and for any costs of medical testing and checkups.
One of the named plaintiffs, John O'Leary, claims his sons have spent every waking hour playing with their trains, including inviting them to dinner, sleeping with them and putting the toys in their mouths. After learning of the hazardous substance Mr. O'Leary returned all of the boys' toys and believes the defendant should take responsibility for the danger they have put his family in, the complaint states.
"In the last week it has become clear as day to me that parents around the country they feel like their families have unnecessarily been put in harms way and there is an unmistakable rage for the way RC2 is handling itself and the manner in which it is treating this issue," said Berman.
The named plaintiff in the original lawsuit, Channing Hesse, purchased a number of the lead-tainted toys for her toddler boys beginning in 2006 believing the toys were safe. Now, according to Berman, she wonders about the long-term health effects on her children.
The hazardous toys were sold at various retailers throughout the U.S. from January 2005 through June 2007. The Thomas Toys are made with yellow and red surface paints containing lead and it is estimated that at least 1.5 million of the toys out there contain lead paint.
RC2 designs, produces and markets a wide range of infant and toddler toys and accessories including Soothie bottles, sippy and straw cups, feeding accessories and healthcare products and markets under The First Years and Lamaze brands, Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Winnie the Pooh, John Deere, Nickelodeon and Sesame Street.
Today's filed suit claims RC2 violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act and Consumer Fraud Laws of other states, breached the implied warranty by selling goods that were unfit, is strictly liable for damages, acted negligently in product design and is responsible for medical monitoring of children who have been exposed to the toys.
About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
The law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is based in Seattle with offices in Chicago, Cambridge, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Since the firm's founding in 1993, it has developed a nationally recognized practice in class-action and complex litigation. Among recent successes, HBSS has negotiated a pending $300 million settlement as lead counsel in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation; a $340 million recovery on behalf of Enron employees which is awaiting distribution; a $150 million settlement involving charges of illegally inflated charges for the drug Lupron, and served as co- counsel on the Visa/Mastercard litigation which resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the largest anti-trust settlement to date. HBSS also served as counsel in a $850 million settlement in the Washington Public Power Supply litigation and represented Washington and 12 other states in lawsuits against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in the history of litigation. For a complete listing of HBSS cases, visit http://www.hbsslaw.com/.
